Star Trek or You Get What You Pay For.

Empire Magazine just revealed the image for the cover of their next issue. They've taken a classic "Spock/Kirk" image from the original tv series and updated it with the new actors playing those parts in the upcoming J.J. Abrams film.

Here tis.



I really dig that. Most particularly, I really dig the new image's clear homage to the source material. It looks like the new film is going to be two straight hours of that. A new spin on classic characters and designs. Precisely what I want to spend my hard-earned $8 on.

Sometimes I'm a little embarrased by how excited I am that this movie is coming out. But as I get older and grow farther and farther away from the things that used to thrill me, a movie that genuinely captures my attention and gets me in theaters seems to be the rarity, these days. The last movie I saw in theaters was "City of Ember" at a friends suggestion. He promised amazingly visual design and that is, indeed, primarily what the movie was about - eye-popping spectacles. But the trailers we saw before the movie looked terrible.

"Inkheart" is some sort of pre-teen, "books come to life" adventure starring The Guy From The Mummy 3 and some Wise-Cracking Old Lady. The trailer for "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas" looked like a brilliant parody trailer for a truly tasteless film. (Son of a Nazi explores woods, finds abandoned corner of a concentration camp and befriends a The Littlest Concentration Camp Survivor AND THEY PLAY CHECKERS THROUGH THE BARB-WIRED FENCE!!! Everyone Learns A Lesson.) When the trailer ended, I wanted to laugh out-loud and cheer for it. I thought that the South Park guys finally got a big budget for one of their movies.

Star Trek, the New Movie, though, promises to have sleek visuals, smart re-designs of the classic technology and costumes (The girls still wear mini-skirts, though! Hubba Hubba!). Spock will be logical. Kirk will be impulsive. "Bones" will be cantankerous. Ray-guns will go "Pew! Pew!" The bad guys will say, "I'll get you, Kirk!" And sooner or a later a space-ship will blow up. Also, mini-skirts! That's what I want and that's what I'm willing to pay $8 for. An oasis of The Hip, Cool and Smart in the middle of a drought of "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" and "Eddie Murphy Wears Crazy Makeup Again, Yal!"

Cheers,
Mr.B